Another Death in Venice

by Reginald Hill

Sarah and Michael Masson are on holiday in Italy, and their tour is making its way to Venice--Italy's most romantic city. But so far the trip hasn't been especially romantic. Michael has little patience for Sarah's sentimental nature or her stubborn insistence on socializing with their fellow travelers. Sarah is tiring of Michael's cynicism. But among their little group of tourists, there is even darker One woman confides to Michael that her husband is violent, while that same husband propositions Sarah shamelessly. And eventually they are joined by two mysterious drifters--one of whom claims to be a mercenary.The journey was meant to be a sunny escape, but storm clouds are clearly brewing. And as Sarah questions her marriage, the police are questioning Michael about a murder . . .

Genres: Mystery, Thriller

224 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Reginald Charles Hill was a contemporary English crime writer, and the winner in 1995 of the Crime Writers' Association Cartier Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement.

After National Service (1955-57) and studying English at St Catherine's College, Oxford University (1957-60) he worked as a teacher for many years, rising to Senior Lecturer at Doncaster College of Education. In 1980 he retired from salaried work in order to devote himself full-time to writing.

Hill is best known for his more than 20 novels featuring the Yorkshire detectives Andrew Dalziel, Peter Pascoe and Edgar Wield. He has also written more than 30 other novels, including five featuring Joe Sixsmith, a black machine operator turned private detective in a fictional Luton. Novels originally published under the pseudonyms of Patrick Ruell, Dick Morland, and Charles Underhill have now appeared under his own name. Hill is also a writer of short stories, and ghost tales.

Reviews

[Rachel N. · Rating 1 out of 5]

The jacket made it look like a lighthearted mystery set on an italian holiday. It's not. What the book mostly is about is a boring case study of 6 people on vacation who I really cared nothing about. A murder does occur over halfway through the book but who killed the person is never really clear. Boring and not worth wasting time on.

[Alison C · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sarah and Michael Masson are a thoroughly modern English couple on a two-part holiday in Italy in 1976; they start in Rimini and end in Venice, arguing and one-upping each other all the way. They get to know some other holiday-goers rather better than they would like, but they would hardly have thought those relationships could end up in murder…."Another Death in Venice" is a stand-alone novel by Reginald Hill, but includes much of his trademark humour and spot-on characterizations such as we find in the Dalziel and Pascoe series. Unfortunately, I pretty much hated every single one of his characters here, and also found the constant sniping about “feminism” (and at “feminists”) to be very tiring; it might have been modern in 1976, but the world, thankfully, has very much moved on. A disappointment, really.

[Contrarywise · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd read this many years ago and decided it was one of Hill's best, from his best (early) period. Intelligent, witty, with some very interesting characters, and lots of local color, including an Italian police officer who is ridiculously handsome, and speaks excellent English, courtly and perhaps a bit Machiavellian. The ending is a bit obscure, maybe someone can elucidate it for me.

[Rebecca Knight · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vintage Reginald Hill- reasonably good mystery but some really hilarious passages. He has a delightful sense of humour.

[Claire Q · Rating 2 out of 5]

This wasn't what I was expecting - I've read a few of Hill's short stories and enjoyed them. This was less of a mystery and more of a soap opera with the most unsympathetic set of characters. The Italian setting didn't really add anything to the story - I feel it could have taken place almost anywhere.

[Marian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, I won't be rereading this one.

This is the only one of Mr. Hill's books that didn't please me. It's a bunch of unpleasant people, behaving badly, and making poor decisions while on holiday.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was verry slow moving. It's only appeal to me was that the characters were very English.

[Kb · Rating 2 out of 5]

The description sounded interesting and I like Reginald Hill’s offbeat humour in his Dalziel and Pascoe series—but the difference is, they are likeable characters. Hill seems to have gone out of his way to make nearly every character in this book at best unadmirable (the put-upon wives) and at worst detestable (the execrable husbands). I got a quarter of the way through it. This is a different kind of DNF. I’m giving up on this book to save my sanity. I’m not bored. I just…don’t want to know.